Questions.

Has anyone here waited, hoped, for something for what felt like a really long time? What enabled you to keep hoping, to not give up?

In the story of the 10 bridesmaids, the wise were delineated from the foolish by the presence of oil in their lamps. Why do you think this preparedness, this “oil” would be so important to Jesus?

Idelette suggests that we are to stand with the oil of hope while we wait for Jesus, and the coming of His kingdom. That we are to stand in the places where it is still dark, “Proclaiming that injustice does not last. Inequality doesn’t last. Night does not last. Walls come down, lives are changed, governments turned over, and hearts transformed.” Does this sound like something that Jesus would ask us to do? Why?

Nelson Mandela waited with hope for 27 years in a small, barren space for the seemingly impossible dream of freedom. Idelette likens this to the “audacious hoping” that Jesus asks us to do. Is there an “impossible dream” of justice, or freedom, or love that you are “pregnant” with? Are you willing to carry the oil of audacious hope in your lamp? What does that look like?

Do you think there is fruit in the waiting, with hope, even if we don’t see the fulfillment in our lifetime of that for which we hope? Why?

Meal.

Here are some delicious but easy recipes to host a dinner in your home…

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Idelette McVicker

Idelette McVicker is an immigrant, mother of three and restaurant wife. She’s founder and Editor-in-Chief of SheLovesMagazine.com, whose mission is to "mobilize and empower women, so we may transform our world together." She was born and raised as an Afrikaner woman in South Africa during the Apartheid years and that shaped a deep longing in her heart for a more free, equal and just world. Idelette lives in Vancouver, Canada, but her home is the world.